Making Up For Lost Time
by SuddenlyFanFiction
Summary: More than three decades have passed since the Lylat Wars. James McCloud, by some miracle, is still alive and has not aged a day since he disappeared. Returning to a now peaceful Corneria, catching up with everything that has happened will prove to be a challenge, especially with what awaits him when he sees Peppy.
1. Consciousness

Note: Before I begin. Let me set the stage by saying that this short is based off a modified timeline where instead of James McCloud being killed and captured by Andross, he disappeared in the same he did in the same way he did in the SNES game where a bomb went off near his ship when he hit critical velocity thus creating a black hole and he gets sucked into it. This is his story after he, through some unexplainable reason, somehow escaped and ended up outside the orbit of Venom.

 **Making Up For Lost Time**

My eyes opened and I looked around to see what had happened. Something wasn't quite right here. Everything was normal as far as I could tell.

"No problems with the engine, the G-Diffusers are online, and fuel gauge says the tank is completely full with enough to get home. I imagine Fox is..."

I paused as my thoughts drifted to my son.

"Andross!" I was shouting to myself. "Peppy! Team Star Fox! The mission!"

I pulled up the coordinates for Venom on the central hub of the Airwing to see that I was in fact right outside of Venom airspace.

"Just focus on completing the mission," I reminded myself.

Looking down at the planet ahead of me. I could see a planet covered in lush shades of ocean blue, forest green, and dirt brown. This planet was alive and well. This planet right here in front of me was a planet very much habitable and filled with life. None of these traits were like the planet named Venom that was described to me by General Pepper in my mission description.

"Is something wrong with my nav system?" I asked, double checking to make sure there was nothing wrong with that.

Much to my surprise, everything registered correctly and nothing had malfunctioned. This was indeed Planet Venom.

"Peppy! Something is wrong here! This isn't the right planet that where Andross is hiding out at!"

No response came over the com.

"What the hell?" I muttered under my breath, now frustrated that I wasn't even able to get a reply from my fellow Star Fox team members.

I slumped down in my seat as I turned on the auto-stabilizers on my ship, letting me stay in place for a moment while I tried to think this through my very bizarre situation I was currently facing.

"There some part of my memory that I am missing here. What is it?" I asked myself.

Something had happened in between the span of time from my travels from Corneria to Venom. But what was it?

"Shit! Why can't I remember a damn thing?" I cussed, smashing my hand upon the thick glass pane that separated me from the vacuum of space. Sighing, I decided that it would be best to fall back to Corneria and regroup with General Pepper there so I could an explanation as to what the hell was going on.

Flying as fast as reasonably possible through the Lylat System I managed to make it to the High Cornerian orbiting satellite in about five hours. Everything was coming along well so far. I did not see a single ship that belonged to Andross's fleet at all on the way. It both relieved and startled me, but it wouldn't matter as everything would figured out once I could establish contact with someone from the Cornerian Space Unit.

I gazed out over the planet as it came into view. As a pilot, the sight of my home from outer space was always a pretty one. It was one of the many things I cherished in being a pilot.

Continuing to enjoy the view as I approached the planet, I saw a group of about seven aircraft come flying toward my direction. All of them were green in color and had sleek bodies with three wings on each side of their cockpits.

 _"Those aren't any ships I have ever seen before,"_ I thought. They had probably been the most recent models. While watching the ships, it was suspicious to me that as they kept on coming closer to where I was, they were aimed at my ship with their weapons.

"Attention unidentified pilot. You are in possession of a stolen aircraft and flying in a restricted Lylat Airspace. Power down your engine and land or we will be forced to take you down by force," a voice chimed in over my com.

This shocked me. How could these people not have recognized my ship? While I may not have been a celebrity or anything. I was James McCloud, founder of Star Fox. I was leader of one of the most well known mercenary groups in the whole Lylat System. Surely this had been a mistake.

"This is James McCloud, leader of team Star Fox," I answered with a clear hint of annoyance to my voice. There was a dead last silence on the communicator for a second.

"Funny story buddy. You aren't fooling us with this joke. You aren't the first one to fly an unregistered Airwing type aircraft and pose as the legendary James McCloud just to attract attention to yourself. He died thirty years ago trying to save the Lylat System," a different and yet vaguely familiar voice said back.

My eyes widened upon hearing this statement. Had I really disappeared for so long without even realizing it? This question lingered on in the back of my mind as I figured there would be no way of convincing these men of the law that I was not an impostor.

I reached my hand over to the comm's switch and pressed it.

"Very well. I'll land. Just show the me way and I will follow," I answered.

The group of ships surrounding me proceeded to lead me from the outer atmosphere and down to the planet.

As we descended further and further towards the surface of the planet, the lush hues of green and blue became more focused as I could make our more details of landscape below.

 _"It's been a long time since I have seen this. Flying above the countryside of the Cornerian landscape right outside the capital city. It's one of several little things I love about flying."_ I thought to myself.

Approaching the city of Corneria itself, I saw that not too much had changed outside of the fact that there were now a higher number of flying vehicles and some more sleeker looking high rises.

"Follow our lead. We will be landing in that open field just outside of Corneria's Military base. Make any attempts to escape and we will not make hesitate to use lethal force and take you down. This is your only warning." That same familiar voice from before stated. A smirk come across my face as I realized who it was that was speaking. "Sure thing Bullet Bill," I said back to bulldog that was piloting the military ship. I had run into Bill Gray, a good friend of my son Fox. He was pretty much like a son to me whenever he and Fox would play when they were kids. "What did you just call me?" Bill said back to me on the comm. I could sense the shakiness in his tone. No one other than me ever called him that when he was little, due to his former obsession with wanting to become the fastest pilot alive.

"You heard what I called you Mr. Bullet," I sarcastically said back to him. After a few more minutes of silence and of us landing, he finally broke the silence.

"Just know that if you aren't James McCloud, when I see your face I will personally knock you out before we get you detained."

I laughed back at him as the group of us finally landed on solid ground. "This is the police. Step out of the ship and come out with your hands up. We have you and your ship surrounded. Any and all resistances made to try to avoid this will be met with a use of force."

Listening to the demands of the cops, I opened the hatch and stepped out like instructed. Setting my blaster and hidden knife on the ground, I raised my hands to let them know that I had nothing to hide. There was small trio of policeman with two cars and along with the circle of ships that completely surrounded me from every direction. Every single one of these people stared at me as if they had seen a ghost. I knew what they were thinking. They were all most likely shocked that I was still alive. I was supposed to be dead.

"Is that really him?" I heard one of the husky canine policeman ask the female cocker spaniel right next to him. This silent talking amongst all of them continued on for about two or three minutes before a bulldog in a tan brown sheriff's outfit standing at nearly my height, stepped out and approached me. All of his fellow officers went dead silent. Taking off his sunglasses and looking straight at me for a few seconds, a smile formed across his face. Tears formed in his eyes as he realized that I was in fact not an impostor.

"I can't believe it. Mr. James. It really is you. After all these years of being dead and you haven't aged a day," he said.

"It's good to see you again, Bill," I smiled at him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Tears streamed down Bill's face as he was still in a state of disbelief. "Mr. James," he muttered under his breath "You're alive. Thank God."

This caught me off guard, but I smiled and returned the gesture putting my arms back around him.

Releasing from our hug. He wiped the tears from his eyes and turned back to his subordinates.

"Call General Peppy! We have to let him know that James McCloud is alive!" He ordered of his men.

"Come with me," He stated. "Peppy is going to want to see you again."


	2. An Old Friend

**An Old Friend**

The four us, comprised of Bill, two of his lower ranking subordinates, and myself arrived at the entrance the Cornerian Air Force main office. As I was lead to the front desk, a young rabbit woman in full uniform sat in an office chair casually staring down at her tablet as if it were more important than the current desk job she had. "Excuse me m'am," Bill said as he attempted to get the woman's attention. She sighed slightly in a minor annoyance and looked up meeting eyes with me. "Yes gentlemen, what can I help you with today?" she asked. It is crazy by the fact she didn't even realize who we were.

"I need to see General Peppy Hare! Is he in his office? A very urgent matter has come up and I need to discuss it with him right now!" Bill raised his voice in tone at the lady. It was apparent that he was slightly annoyed with the employee's demeanor toward us.

She sighed in minor annoyance and complied, albeit as slowly as possible. "What's your name?" she asked, "I'll also need to see your ID's to verify." Proceeding to reach into my back pocket, Bill motioned at me to stop. He would take care of this himself. "M'am. Look at me. I shall be as straight-forward as I can with you. You are in no position to be wasting my time here especially considering the fact that I am a high ranking Major," Bill explained, police badge out and in front of the woman's face. I watched in amusement. He was chewing this incompetent secretary's butt out.

"And right now I am in in dire need of speaking to another higher ranking officer that is one of the people that whether or not your ass will ever get promoted from a Lieutenant. So if you want to get far in the Air Force, I'd you'd do what's best for you right now and page General Hare in his office and let him know that his good friend Bill Gray is here to see him. Tell him that he brought an uh… old friend to see him too."

She didn't know how to react to this other than to just listen to Bill's command. And sure enough, a few minutes later the four of us in were riding in an elevator up to the top floor of the building. Looking down at the expansive cityscape below, the entire city appeared vastly different than to what it was last I had seen it. Air traffic was everywhere in vast numbers compared to the number of ground vehicles. Actual traffic lights hovered in the sky regulating intersections. This was very much a different city than before, and I had missed all of that time between. "It really has changed hasn't it?" I commented. Looking back over at Bill, he looked at me like if it was nothing. "I can't even imagine what you are feeling right now," he said back gazing out of the window.

"One day you wake up and technology has advanced so far ahead that it seems like just yesterday we were only the second generation of space and air traveling ships in existence," I muttered. "It seems like only yesterday Fox and I were kids playing with toy Airwings and dreaming of the day we could join the academy," He said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out an old model toy of an Airwing.

I looked at the small toy in awe. "That's the toy I got you and my son as a gift years ago. You've hung onto for all these years?" I asked.

He nodded and handed the tiny thing to me. "Yes, I did, however, this one isn't mine," he answered.

This confused me a bit. If this one wasn't his, then who's could that have been. There were only ever two of these made. I had specially ordered and them made as replicas of the Airwings that my crew had flown.

"What do you mean? How could you possibly have more than one. I had those made as gifts for you and-"

My mind instantly drifted to that of Fox caused me to stop mid-sentence. While I had the intentions of attempting to find my son, I assumed that Peppy would easily be able to tell me of his whereabouts. "Did something happen to him?" I questioned him. He looked away from me in silence, refusing to answer. A tenseness had started to grow inside all over my chest. No, not that feeling you have when you are having some sort of heartburn or acid reflux. It was the sensation of stress that you experience when you find out some sort of important news that could have devastating effects on your life and wellbeing as a whole. I looked over to the other officers standing to Bill's right and left. The looks on their faces all but confirmed that they were hiding some sort of horrible news. Bill took a deep breath and reached for the toy and placed it in my hand, closing my grip around the tiny plane. "Peppy will fill you in with the rest of the details. It would be best for him to tell you. I have no place in informing you," he explained.

I frowned, but realized that trying to beat the answer out of him would be nothing but a dead-end.

"Alright," I answered as we exited the elevator, finally having reached the top floor of the building. Bill lead me through a small lobby filled with the typical kind of stuff you'd expect to see in a waiting area to a large corporate or military office. He knocked on an open door to a secretary's room that lead to what I could assume to be Peppy's place of business. Catching her attention he greeted her saying, "Ms. Duskin. I'm here to see General Hare." The appropriately named secretary bird that was sitting at her desk busy shuffling papers looked up at us. She smiled at him rather happy to see Bill in front of her desk. "He is in his office, but next time please call in advance the next time you want to come visit him. That goes for you as well!" she called me out and noticing me for the first time.

"Wait a second. How could Fox McCloud be here when-" "All will be explained after I talk to General Hare," Bill cut her off before she could even have a chance to blurt out whatever it was that had happened. I scratched the back of my head nervously. Any suspicions about something bad happening to my son had all but been confirmed.

Bill turned and knocked the door on Peppy's office door. "Come on in!" an all too long-familiar, but older raspy sounding voice said.

"Here we go," I muttered under my breath, walking into the office behind Bill. I closed the door behind the two of us, with the two other officers staying back in the secretary's office to explain the situation that was happening. Sitting down on one of the nice leather chairs pulled up in front the very large and luxurious mahogany office desk, an older rabbit with graying fur on his face sat with his coffee in hand.

"After all these years, you've managed to return from the dead old friend. I must say it is good to see you again." The old rabbit said to me. While there was no telling the amount of questions that he had for me or what he was thinking about right now, I did know one thing for sure. He was glad to see me again. "Hello Peppy."


End file.
